Tazio, Issue 15 – Le Mans Special

Tazio Magazine iss a quarterly luxury focusing on long reads on motorsport history. Bringing slow stories on fast cars, printed on 160 pages of the finest magazine paper known to mankind.

In this issue:
Ferrari F40 GTE – We went to Denmark to document what is probably the ultimate Ferrari F40 GTE, the 1996 Team Ennea ‘Igol’ car. As its drivers comment, ‘the F40 was frightening: blindingly quick, but so brutal.’ In the BPR Global Endurance Series, the F40 GTE was a winner. At Le Mans, it fell short. The F40’s racing history laid bare, with the help of Cristiano Michelotto, Gary Ayles and Carl Rosenblad.

25 Years of Corvette Racing at Le Mans – In 2000, Corvette Racing embarked on a French adventure that continues, 25 years on. C5-R, C6.R, C7.R and C8.R brought Corvette Racing nine class wins, and in 2006 even a fourth place overall, against competitors like the Dodge Viper, Ferrari 550, Aston Martin DBR9, Ferrari 458 and of course, the eternal Porsche 911. A unique insight in the workings of Corvette Racing, with the help of Gary Pratt and Ron Fellows.

50 Years of Porsche 934 – In 1975, Porsche for the first time gave private customers access to 500 hp (almost), thanks to the power of turbo. Many private teams switched to the 934 Group 4 car for Le Mans 1976. It was fast, when it held together, as Nick Faure noted. “We just kept blowing up turbos.” That very car now is ready for its comeback at Le Mans Classic.

Cobra Coupes – Dave Friedman takes us on a photographic tour of Carroll Shelby’s finest hour, in 1964. His Shelby Cobra ‘Daytona’ Coupe walked away from the 24 Hours of Le Mans with the GT winners trophy in hand, taken from the Ferrari 250 GTO. He also looks at another coupe “that was as much a surprise for Carroll Shelby as it was for us.”: AC’s own Cobra Coupe.

The mid-engined miracle – Compared to Toyota and Mazda, Honda still lacks that illustrious overall victory in Le Mans. But thirty years ago, Honda took the GT2 class win with the NSX. Following a script straight out of Hollywood, the NSX had to overcome adversity, and of course, the horrendous weather of the 1995 race. With its eyes firmly set on the Callaway Corvette that was laps ahead, the all-Japanese Honda crew gave chase. They would create Honda’s finest hour at Le Mans.

Old No. 3 – Driven to Le Mans by W.O. Bentley himself, ‘Old No. 3’ was one of two specially-built – in the greatest secrecy – Bentley Speed Six’s. Its mission was simple, yet daring: keep Bentley’s record at Le Mans safe by setting a pace so high that Caracciola’s Mercedes-Benz SSK would crack under pressure. A portrait of what is often called ‘the ultimate Bentley’.

We could dedicate an entire issue to Derek Bell. Instead, we opted on just two themes for this interview with the five-time Le Mans winner: the 1995 race in the Harrods McLaren F1 GTR, which he shared with son Justin and Andy Wallace. They come close to making it a sixth win. And Derek Bell takes us back to the days when he was on set for Steve McQueen’s film ‘Le Mans’. “Steve was remarkably good as a driver. But he was flat-out everywhere.”

Peter Stevens looks at Don Panoz’ very first hybrid adventure at Le Mans, with the Q9.

Market watch: Ascott Collection’s Xavier Micheron points us towards the hidden jewels in the LMP900/LMP1 category. Not Audi, still blindingly fast, much more affordable and easy to drive.

Columns from Hurley Haywood, Steve Soper and Christian Geistdörfer.